


In the Embers

by WhirlyBird70



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Backstory, Character Study, F/F, First writing like this, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Kinda, Korean Keith, Metaphors, Not Canon Compliant, POV Second Person, Subtle World Building, Texas, i'm mildly happy with thi, not really just my headcanons, s, texan keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 04:33:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,009
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14762670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhirlyBird70/pseuds/WhirlyBird70
Summary: You are born with fire in your veins and a desert in your mind.Or, at least you think you were. You might've not always have had the large expanse of nothingness in your mind, empty of young memories and life and simply focused on survival, but you try not to focus on that too much (The fact that you might've had something better than constant loss hurts worse)Instead, you focus on the unreachable stars in your desert mind. You focus on your dreams and ambitions- something beyond survival- and hope that one day you will be able to grasp those dreams and stars in the palm of your hands.For now, you stay on the dusty ground and wander the red dunes and rocks, pretending it's what you want it to be.





	In the Embers

**Author's Note:**

> Okay this is my first time writing a story like this, and I was inspired by several stories around Ao3, as you will see by the similar elements in the story. Some are headcanon's that I've had for awhile, some are new.
> 
> So I hope you enjoy, and please, feel free to correct me on spelling, grammar, etc.
> 
> Kudos to anyone who spots out the cameo rare-pair couple from another fandom.

You are born with fire in your veins and a desert in your mind.

Or, at least you think you were. You might've not always have had the large expanse of nothingness in your mind, empty of young memories and life and simply focused on survival, but you try not to focus on that too much (The fact that you might've had something better than constant loss hurts worse)

Instead, you focus on the unreachable stars in your desert mind. You focus on your dreams and ambitions- something beyond survival- and  _hope_  that one day you will be able to grasp those dreams and stars in the palm of your hands.

For now, you stay on the dusty ground and wander the red dunes and rocks, pretending it's what you want it to be.

-

Outside your mind, you are five. You live with your Dad in your wooden desert house, with no one else around for miles.

You have an Uncle Mac (who your dad says isn't really an uncle but it's close enough ( _you need all the family you can get, you and your dad, because the universe is a very lonely place and there is only the two of you_ )) who sometimes stops by your little shelter in the big red sandy sea of New Texas with his big big  _big_  red hover-cycle that you can't help but stare at with wonder in your eyes.

"Can I ride it? Please, Please, Please Uncle Mac!" You ask your uncle, who tells you it’s up to your dad, who gives a hesitant little yes and a worried look that you hardly even notice because you are  _flying._

With your uncle holding onto you, you sit in his lap and watch the desert fly by, feel the wind in your hair, and seem to breathe something other than sand for the first time.

"You like that Keith?" Uncle Mac asks you, once you and he return to the desert shack (that you are hesitant to call home-but what else would you call home?)

You nod excitedly, already asking to go again.

(At five, you think you have found a way to reach the stars)

-

When you are seven you become acquainted with the fire outside the one burning in your blood. You become known to the pure  _hate_ and  _destruction_ and  _suffocation_ and  _death_ it can bring, beyond its hope and urging and power.

At seven, your father dies in the fiery flames that trap your home from a stray cigarette.

All that's left is three walls, ashes, and the knife.

(The knife that belonged to your mother)

There is Uncle Mac, holding you as you stare at the ashes of your house, frozen in shock. There is no fire in your veins now, only ashes covering you in black soot and charred dreams.

Uncle Mac guides you away as flashing blue and red lights come closer. He picks you up when your feet become too heavy to move, and carries you to the hover cycle.

You don't enjoy the wind on your face- it only reminds you of your dad.

(You had forgotten about the heat in the desert- how it burns and burns and burns until there is nothing left but the strongest creatures.

You don't want to touch the stars now.

You just want your Dad back.)

-

Uncle Mac dies a year later.

_A heart attack_ , they tell him, the nurses who placed a blanket around his shoulders,  _from all those nasty cigarettes he smoked._

You huddle down and wait because what now?

(Uncle Mac gave you the hover cycle in his will. You aren't ready to see it, but have it driven to the desert shack - which your farther gave you in his will)

-

The old lady who you live with is nice.

(It's called a foster home or something. You didn't really pay attention. All you know is that this is where you live now, in a big bustling town, going to school for the first time.

You don't think you like it. It's too  _loud_ )

The man, the younger man who slicks back his blond hair and seems to give a nasty grin anytime you mess up, is not.

He is the exact opposite of nice.

He pushes you and you push back and you both disappoint the lady and you think you finally feel what guilt is like.

No matter- because you are off to the next home.

-

(A cycle begins- good home, bad home, good grades bad grades, where crushed dreams are the only the constant.

Sometimes you make friends.

Sometimes you don't.

Sometimes they laugh and say  _look at the freak's sharp teeth? That’s what you are- a little orphan freak with weird stupid eyes and dumb and stupid-_

You learn that wanting to be alone makes it worse- but being with someone makes it hurt even more when they leave or you leave.

Because you always eventually leave and they leave too if you don't do it first so it's better to never ever _ever_ get attached so you don't get hurt)

-

You are eleven when the cycle first breaks.

You don't regret it, even when you have to leave.

It happens like this.

Your new home is back in New Texas, back with dusty ruins of desert towns from before the new age, towering rocks and sandy seas, and, best of all, the unbroken, undiluted light of a million stars above your head.

You now live in an old but well-kept yellow house with two old ladies. Mrs. and Mrs. Jones are their names, but they tell you that you can call them anything you like, so you call them Aunt Becky and Auntie Kate because you have had an uncle who wasn't really an uncle before (it still hurts) so why not have aunt's that aren't really aunts?

Your aunts are amazing to you. They spit into buckets, curse out people they don't like, teach you how to fight and best of all- they own  _hoverbikes_.

And they let you  _ride_  them.

You feel the wind in your face and all your dreams coming back to you as you ride with your Auntie Kate as Aunt Becky watches and hollers in the background.

They both see the stars in yours eyes as you come back, glittering and bright, and they immediately teach you how to drive.

And not just the normal way like Uncle Mac drove- no, they teach you how to do tricks and loops, and barrel rolls and how to stay on the bike.

When you get into a fight at school, they come in and ask you if you won- not _who started it_ , not  _are you okay Keith, or you are in big trouble mister_ like all the old homes.

When you say no, but you punched him a good one 'cause he was badmouthing your aunts, they smile and teach you how to punch and fight, with fists knives and guns, instead of punishing you like all the old homes.

You sit out on your porch, drinking ginger ale as you help Aunt Becky with the bike, and think you feel the fire in your veins again, and the stars coming closer to the desert in your mind.

You tell your Aunt and Auntie that you love them, and they say it right back, tears in all your eyes.

(The next day you see adoption papers laid out on the table and your heart melts with this happy glee - you think you're home.)

(The absence of Dad doesn't hurt anymore, because it's just like he's here in this place)

-

Sometimes your aunts have visitors around, buddies who they get drunk and rowdy around, who teach you how to cheat at cards and sneak you drinks even though your aunts say  _no Keith._

You like it when they come over - there's this one guy in a big hat who teaches you all the curses in Spanish, and another (his husband or boyfriend you think,) with most of his body made of metal, who teaches you all the worst words in Japanese and Korean.

(You think Korea was where your dad said his grandpa was from, and try to find more about it. You fail, but its starts a bigger spark in your heart, in your veins and in your mind. You start to have dreams of flying, flying in the stars and in alien skies.

You want it to be real.)

Sometimes, the blue and red wailing cars come by and break up the party, confiscate some of the alcohol and bring the big hat guy away, but he's always back so you don't think much about  _why_  and what would happen if it happened to your aunties instead of the big hat man.

(You wish you wondered later)

-

Your aunts bring you to a race, a hover-craft race, and it's so much different from the ones on TV.

It's, you suppose, because this one isn't exactly  _legal_  but that guy just jumped off the cliff, did three barrel rolls, and then had already modified his bike so it shot out flames for extra speed as he swept back into the race, so who cares?

The more races your aunts bring you too, the more your dream cements in your mind.

You finally tell your aunts about it, when you're twelve (almost thirteen!) and have been with them for nearly two years.

You tell them you want to fly, and they say okay, we'll get you your own bike and get you in some races, and you say no, even though that would be  _really really cool, can we do that too?_

You point to the sky and say  _I want to fly up there. With the stars_  and your aunts trade a look.

Auntie Kate stands up and walks into her and Aunt Becky's room while the room stays quiet, and walks back out with a big box full of brochures and pamphlets. She spreads them on the table.

_The Galaxy Garrison,_  it reads _, Where Stars are reached._

_This,_ you Aunt tells you,  _is where you want to go._

_What is it?_  You ask.

"A training facility for military outer-atmosphere and space pilots. It's the best in the world," Aunt Becky tells you while Auntie Kate looks silently on.

"Whoa," you whisper under your breath as you look in awe at the pictures of space and pilots.

"I went there." Aunt Kate says out of nowhere.

It is then that you learn more about your aunt and auntie.

About the two women who met at the garrison, answering the call from their souls to fly after their world went to shit, fought through battles in the air on the other side of the world together, and came back home to live out their lives, battle-scarred, in love, and proud.

You learn about the scars on their bodies that you never really noticed before, and the medals gleaming on their bedroom desk.

You find a bit of pride for your aunts, and say that you want to follow in their footsteps and become a pilot yourself. They smile and chuckle, and tell you that you can join the Garrison at 16, 15 if you are a government ward.

They will help you reach the stars, they promise you, and start finding pilot lessons and signing you up for races, and bringing Uncle Mac's hovercycle over from the shack. They smile, and you feel happier than ever.

-

Of course, it all ends.

You are 13 and a half when it happens, when your aunts get arrested for illegal racing, drug products, and endangerment of a child.

(You were never in any danger - you could easily take down both your aunts and their friends that this point, because you’re a fighter)

The government allows you to visit your aunts and they tell you the  _really fucking bad news._

You have to go.

They aren't allowed to keep you, even though you will always be dear to them, _always_ be their almost-son, their little pilot.

They want you to follow your dreams, and give you Auntie Kate's red fighter jacket, grit for your knife, and a kiss on each cheek.

They make you promise to visit, and that there will always be a place in their home for you, (when they get back to it after two to ten years that is.)

_We love you Keith_ , they tell you.

_I love you too_ , you say back, before a mean government man brings you away and you are tossed in another home.

-

_Three years_ is your mantra now, _three years until you can fly._

(It's a hard three years. You are beaten, yelled at, bullied, cursed out slurred at, banned, hurt in all sorts of ways.

You are hurt for liking boys, for having to sharp teeth and purple eyes, for having a knife with you and supposed anger problems.

For having two criminal aunts and a dead uncle and Dad, and a no show mom whose knife you still cling too)

_Two years_ , the mantra chants, as you start looking up books on flight and advanced studies, and work to get your grades up and temper down. The Garrison won't exactly accept _anyone_

(Sometimes, when it gets dark, you think you won't make it, you'll be stuck on the dusty desert ground in your mind, and you veins will never flow with fire, and you'll just be a failure in the end.

You try not focus too much on it.

You have a goal, and you are going to make it even if it breaks every part of you.)

_One year_ , the mantra screams as applications approach.

(You pass the preliminary exam with flying colors, and await your acceptance any day now. All military schools are government funded, so money isn't a problem.

If you are accepted or not, is.)

Zero. The mantra stops.

(Did you make it?)

**_Yes_**.

You call your aunts, scream as you run down the dusty streets from the post office where you got the news, uncaring if anyone hears you, tell your foster parents that you'll be gone by August, and let your blood boil with excitement at the thought of finally having made it.

-

At the Galaxy garrison, you are succeeding. The simulations come easy to you; it's like flying a cycle but with different controls.

But you are the youngest in your class, and kind of weird, which immediately makes you a target.

To avoid the mean looks, the sneering and glares, you detach yourself from them all, yet again.

But then Takashi Shirogane bashes down all those walls and becomes your friend. Your  _brother_.

But then he leaves for Kerberos and doesn't come back. (Pilot error- yeah right, Shiro  _never_ messed up.)

You learn that Aunt Becky died from food poisoning in prison. Auntie Kate isn't responding well.

And the calling to the stars in your mind has stopped. (It’s being replaced by a little voice calling from the desert to search  _search search_ and _be.)_

You try to find out the truth, but are unable to get anywhere with Garrison technology. You are able to pick locks but not hack codes to government secrets.

You give up on the stars for now, and answer the call to the desert, one you have always really understood.

You punch Iverson on the way out. (And _damn_ if the crunch of his nose didn't give you a sense of satisfaction.)

-

You are sixteen and a half, and have been living in the desert for almost a year.

You found your dad's old shack, surprisingly close to the Garrison, and set up base there. You call Auntie Kate, to tell her your safe, and finding a different way to the stars. You bring back your hovercycle and work on it. Modifying it to be better, and painting it to be cooler.

You relax, out there where it's only yourself, the sand, the wind, the animals and then stars, and finally start to _breathe_ past the pain in your heart.

You work past the sense of loss in your chest, and follow the screaming urge toe  _search_  in your chest and find the lion carvings.

You find odd abandoned metals in the desert.

You find work at an old ranch, just enough to get you money to eat, to pay off laundry, and to get Wi-Fi.

You don't need much else.

(That’s what you tell yourself, in the dark nights of the desert, that you only need you, and you'll walk in your own desert mind and fight the fire in your veins  _alone_  because you know you’re fucked up and that's why everyone leaves but-

Sometimes you can't convince yourself. ( _You don't want to be convinced_ \- but since when have your feelings mattered?))

-

You are sixteen and a half when Shiro falls out of the sky and thank the stars you obeyed the voice in your head to set up your homemade explosives in case you need a distraction just like this.

You are sixteen and a half when you meet the rest of Voltron, and finally reach the stars.

-

You were born with fire in your veins and a desert in your mind.

You embrace it now, because the stars don't look so pretty up close, and the fire in your veins keeps you from dying in the cold of space and of not knowing who you are.

You have a family now, and you will do your best to protect it.

You are Keith, and you might not know all that it entails, but maybe it doesn't matter because you were launched into space in a giant blue cat with nothing but your mother's knife, your auntie's jacket, a couple of cadets and a guy with an alien arm. No one really knows a lot now.

So you'll stay in the stars, flying alien skies in your own Red Lion, knowing that there will never be anywhere you'd rather be. 

**Author's Note:**

> Did you like it? I'm not exactly happy with the ending, but I love the thought of keith having two really tough texan aunts who let him get away with anything, be got arrested but couldn't do it anymore.
> 
> Love it.  
> So who spotted the cameo couple?
> 
> And if you could please tell me any mistakes I made that would amazing.  
> Thank you for reading!  
> -Whirly


End file.
